Stroke rates soaring among young people

A new study has revealed that rates of stroke worldwide are rising rapidly among the young, even though they are decreasing in older populations.

The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, published in The Lancet, found the number of strokes affecting people aged 20 to 64 has leapt by a quarter in the past 20 years.

It means that strokes in this demographic make up 31 per cent of the worldwide total, up from only 25 per cent prior to 1990. In addition, more than 83,000 strokes are recorded every year in the under-20s.

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Britons are more likely to die as a result of this condition than someone in France, Germany or the US, something that was blamed on sedentary lifestyles and habits like smoking and eating unhealthily.

Professor Valery Feigin from the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences in New Zealand commented: 'There is now an urgent need for culturally acceptable and affordable stroke prevention, management and rehabilitation strategies to be developed and implemented worldwide.'

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